The "Ronald Reagan = Hero" Argument

[greenwarbler]

there are people who think of Ronald Regan as a "hero of the middle classes. As this video ( ht tp://ww w.youtube. com/watch?v=p5D6RnMbfHI , he was actually a fire-breathing hydra whose heads must be chopped off...

[Axle]

Rollin' and trollin'.

[B0LSHEVIK]

Whats wrong with you?

Of course Ronald was a hero to many, many, rich Americans. Why else do you think the medias on his jock?

Yea, he was a mother fucker. Thank god (akward) the mother fuckers dead. Im just waiting on that mummy of his wife Nancy to become worm food before I throw my Reagan's Dead party!

[lonelywurm]

The problem with Reagan really is that his influence - either as a policy-maker or figurehead, depending on your view - has gone far beyond his life and is beginning to approach the legendary within the American (and maybe even global) right-wing.

If he'd just been your run-of-the-mill neoliberal hack motherfucker, it'd be fine. It's that he's such a damned enduring neoliberal hack motherfucker.

Even thinking about "Reagonomics" makes me ill, and it's a part of school curriculums now!

[TwoSevensClash]

The problem with Reagan really is that his influence - either as a policy-maker or figurehead, depending on your view - has gone far beyond his life and is beginning to approach the legendary within the American (and maybe even global) right-wing.

If he'd just been your run-of-the-mill neoliberal hack motherfucker, it'd be fine. It's that he's such a damned enduring neoliberal hack motherfucker.

Even thinking about "Reagonomics" makes me ill, and it's a part of school curriculums now!

I remember in history class getting up and stating that Ronald Regan should of been hung for treason against the United States of America my case being that he aided enemy's of the US by giving Iran weapons and then breaking another US law which made funding the contras illegal. The teachers response was that I would grow up and be a republican:laugh:

[Dimentio]

The problem with Reagan really is that his influence - either as a policy-maker or figurehead, depending on your view - has gone far beyond his life and is beginning to approach the legendary within the American (and maybe even global) right-wing.

If he'd just been your run-of-the-mill neoliberal hack motherfucker, it'd be fine. It's that he's such a damned enduring neoliberal hack motherfucker.

Even thinking about "Reagonomics" makes me ill, and it's a part of school curriculums now!

He was quite mediocre really. The only reason why he's seen as so great is because of Gorbachev, charisma and nostalgia.

[lonelywurm]

He was quite mediocre really. The only reason why he's seen as so great is because of Gorbachev, charisma and nostalgia.
You're right, though I'd add that a part of the Reagan personality cult that is developing is the huge influx of money from parties interested in maintaining the shifting of taxes further and further down the economic ladder.

I mean, if I'm Rupert Murdoch sitting in my golden bathtub full of cash, Reagan probably seems pretty cool - and making the working classes think so too (in direct opposition to their interests) is good for your interests, and also well within your power as a media magnate.


I remember in history class getting up and stating that Ronald Regan should of been hung for treason against the United States of America my case being that he aided enemy's of the US by giving Iran weapons and then breaking another US law which made funding the contras illegal. The teachers response was that I would grow up and be a republican
This is... truly horrifying. I'd never heard the thesis that senescence is itself a predictor for the acceptance of and even support for the criminal and immoral use of money and guns to support international capital. I wonder if anyone's told the journal Nature?

[Tavarisch_Mike]

Ive allways looked at Reagan as a really, really stupid guy.

[L.A.P.]

Reagan was really the one that first got the train going that eventually led to the collapse of the economy of the United States and pretty much the world as a whole at this point.

[TwoSevensClash]

Ive allways looked at Reagan as a really, really stupid guy.
He had his schedule done by an astrologist. Fun fact so did Hitler Goebbels and Himmler. Not that Regan was as bad but he was just as stupid.

[gorillafuck]

I don't think Reagan was a dumbass, he just tried to come off as this guy that everyone would like if they met him in real life. This is what a lot of politicians, particularly conservatives, try to do.

The idea that he's a hero among the GOP is because he was a staunch conservative republican who is perceived to have completely reversed an American society that was going in a more liberal direction and instead supported jingoistic nationalism and hardcore capitalism.

[L.A.P.]

I don't think Reagan was a dumbass, he just tried to come off as this guy that everyone would like if they met him in real life. This is what a lot of politicians, particularly conservatives, try to do.
The idea that he's a hero among the GOP is because he was a staunch conservative republican who is perceived to have completely reversed an American society that was going in a more liberal direction and instead supported jingoistic nationalism and hardcore capitalism.

And look where that got us.....
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://slog.thestranger.com/files/2008/01/enjoy_capitalism.jpg&imgrefurl=http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/das_capital&usg=__nYjmVymbFLyiYXAdMGfkWOuQOHU=&h=361&w=350&sz=37&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=KfMW8j-QkAaRlM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Denjoy%2Bcapitalism%26hl%3Den%26safe%3 Doff%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D663%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Dis ch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=118&vpy=56&dur=4700&hovh=228&hovw=221&tx=181&ty=47&ei=HHzETPSDMoP58AaKsLnfBA&oei=HHzETPSDMoP58AaKsLnfBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

[Hiero]

I don't think Reagan was a dumbass, he just tried to come off as this guy that everyone would like if they met him in real life. This is what a lot of politicians, particularly conservatives, try to do.



It is a very common in Australia. It is the appeal to "ordinary" Australians and in Reagan's case "ordinary" Americans. It is quite amazing feat how politicians with obvious aristocractic like ties can pull of that they have ordinary lives. While doing this they can also paint any left wing, or centrist candidate as elitist, out of touch with reality and ideaological fundementalist.

[Lobotomy]

It is a very common in Australia. It is the appeal to "ordinary" Australians and in Reagan's case "ordinary" Americans. It is quite amazing feat how politicians with obvious aristocractic like ties can pull of that they have ordinary lives. While doing this they can also paint any left wing, or centrist candidate as elitist, out of touch with reality and ideaological fundementalist.

Reminds me of John Edwards in 2008. When he was trying for the Democratic nomination he was running against a black man and a woman, so he played up his "working class background". I guess it didn't work out so well.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

It's incredible that his economic legacy is so enduring. He really wasn't much of an intellectual/academic.

But then, we shouldn't fall into the trap of analysing history from the point of view of 'great men'. Given the context of the 1980s - in particular the arms race and the susceptibility, economically and politically, of the USSR - Reagan's election as President could be said to be sufficient but not a necessary condition of what happened 1981 and beyond.

[The Author]

Ronald Reagan was a puppet. An actor with an image who read scripted speeches and interviews and was playing the role of the President of the U.S. Well... at least when he was partly cognitive and not entirely senile due to his Alzheimer's, as was very evident especially during his second term. Meanwhile, it was George H.W. Bush who really was running the country along with the other neocon cronies. In a sense, the elder Bush was in the Oval Office for three consecutive terms, not just one, as opposed to his just as dumb and arrogant son who only served two official terms. Yes, although it was termed the Reagan era, it was more of the Bushism phenomenon that began in 1980, stopped in 1993, continued in 2000, and finally ended in 2009. And helped to fuck up this country and the entire planet in a very, very big way.

[TwoSevensClash]

Regan was only empowered cause some nutter tried to off him.

[Mood]

Are you really opining that Reagan was a Bad Dude in a forum that caters to revolutionary leftists?

[Morpheus]

Reagan was the only President of a labor union to later become President of the United States. I wonder if this says something about mainstream union leaders?

[gorillafuck]

Reagan was the only President of a labor union to later become President of the United States. I wonder if this says something about mainstream union leaders?
A hollywood actors union probably has a different crowd in it than your average union.

But yeah, unions are in a sorry state.

[Klaatu]

Reagan's biggest goof up was applying the now-discredited notion that tax cuts for the wealthy
actually generate greater revenues. This is known as the Laffer Curve. It is astounding that,
after all these years, too many people (on the right) still believe that it works. Hence the
endless babble on "cutting taxes." Originally, it was Reagan and Republicans who pushed this
agenda - now Democrats push it too?

This begs the question: With the USA running near-record debt, all of the talk is of cutting taxes.
Just how is that supposed to work? Laffer has been disproved.

Suppose my bank account is empty, and I am deep in debt. Should I ask my boss for a pay cut?
That is exactly what Laffer requires, an application of impossible logic.

[Mood]

Suppose my bank account is empty, and I am deep in debt. Should I ask my boss for a pay cut?
That is exactly what Laffer requires, an application of impossible logic.

while supply-side economics are, quite obviously, bullshit, this is a really intellectually dishonest argument, and a gross oversimplification of the issue.

[Klaatu]

while supply-side economics are, quite obviously, bullshit, this is a really intellectually dishonest argument, and a gross oversimplification of the issue.

Their plan is to completely gut government spending (except of course, the military type) and they hope to force this by reducing taxes to the vanishing point. This is because the US conservative does not give one iota of shit for the working class. We are just cogs in the wheel, existing only to make the "God's Chosen Few" enormously wealthy. To them, taxes are not necessary, because public schools, roads, hospitals, social security, unemployment insurance, and so on, are not needed by them; the working class can just go ahead and grovel for their own crumbs.

They want a system which existed in the Middle Ages, where they are the Royal Class. And they plan to accomplish this by gutting our hard-won, painstakingly-built public institutions. I for one, will fight this evil, diabolical plan until my death.

[Revolutionair]

http://www.gereth.net/blog_irene/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/reaganomics.jpg